Israeli army lawyer who sanctioned bombings under attack over university post

An Israeli army lawyer who sanctioned the bombing of a police barracks in Gaza has provoked an outcry after securing a job at the law department of Tel Aviv university.

Image 1 of 2

Colonel Pnina Sharvit Baruch, head of the international law division at the IDF Military Advocate General's Office, to become a law lecturer.Photo: ALON RON/ISRAELSUN

Image 1 of 2

School of Law at Tel Aviv University

By Dina Kraft in Tel Aviv

12:32PM GMT 01 Feb 2009

For five weeks, Israelis have maintained a wall of public support for what they saw as a defensive war in Gaza, denouncing overt criticism as rank unpatriotism during a time of national crisis.

Yet the shocking images of suffering broadcast from inside the Palestinian territory - including the deaths of hundreds of children - have led some people to start questioning whether the army went too far.

For a country that prides itself on having an armed service that upholds high moral standards, the criticisms have been jarring and spurred a debate as to how Israel's image abroad can be repaired.

Some of this backlash has now engulfed Colonel Pnina Sharvit-Baruch, a military lawyer heading the office responsible for giving the legal go ahead when the Israeli army selected its targets.

Her office controversially authorised the bombing of a graduation ceremony for Palestinian policemen on the first day of the war, killing about 40.

Related Articles

The international law department, which she headed, is also reported to have relaxed the rules of engagement - allowing the use of white phosphorus, cluster bombs and anti-personnel mines - which is thought to have increased the number of civilian casualties.

Now other academics at the university have attacked the decision to give her the job and a leading newspaper has said it should be rescinded.

"One of the important reasons not to appoint Sharvit-Baruch to the law faculty is her sanctioning of the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians," said an editorial in Ha'aretz.

Professor Chaim Gans, a law professor at Tel Aviv University lodged what he called, "a moral protest against a state of affairs where somebody who authorised these actions is teaching the law of war."

Anat Maor, a lecturer of philosophy at the university, who also opposed the appointment, said she was not against Col Sharvit-Baruch's views, but her actions.

"It is her deeds, the fact that she was a senior participant in planning a criminal attack on civilians," she said. "I can't imagine such a person teaching international law in my university. This brings Israeli academia to one of its lowest points ever."

Hanoch Dagan, the dean of the law school, responded by insisting that there had to be a number of different voices represented on campus.

"Our policy has attracted criticism," he wrote in a newspaper article. "For some, we are too liberal. For others we are insufficiently liberal."